this post was submitted on 28 May 2025
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Maoists say China is not socialist?
You may be confusing "Maoism" with "Marxism-Leninism Mao Zedong Thought" (MLMZT) which is the actual ideology of the People's Republic of China. It's confusing when you're learning about it for the first time, and I do wish they had a more distinct name so as not to confuse sensible and successful ideologies with crackpot ultras so frequently.
Wait, and Gonzalo is Maoist or something else entirely?
Gonzalo was marxist-leninist-maoist-principally-maoist. But it's mostly splitting hairs by now, if you say maoism it means maoism.
I went to several meetings with some MLMZT folks in my neighborhood and all this time I referred to them as Maoists. I am still so fucking uneducated sometimes it's unreal lol.
Just go with Marxist and you're likely not offending anyone, safest bet in my experience.
Definitely was, thank you
The origin of "Maoism" as it's used today goes back to China after Mao's death, where there was a power struggle between those who stuck closer to Mao's teachings (Peasant Democracy and political education/activism) and the more Technocratic, economically liberal elements.
In reality, the result was that moderates took power and did their best to appease both sides; but to the Maoists, they believe that after Mao's death China fell to Liberal revisionism and the Gang of Four, the leaders of the Maoist movement, were exiled.
Maoism was popularized outside of China by Peru's Shining Path, led by Chairman Gonzalo.
Ah, I wasn't aware of that. I thought Maoism was just ascribing to communism with Chinese characteristics.
"Maoists" hate Socialism with Chinese Characteristics. They are ultras. Basically China's version of Trotskyites. No existing socialism is good enough for them because it's never pure enough, left enough, or revolutionary enough. It is deeply ironic that they call themselves "Maoists" because Mao himself made pragmatic compromises with the national bourgeoisie under the framework of New Democracy that today's "Maoists" would call revisionist, liberal and a betrayal of socialism. Those who follow the real spirit of Mao's teachings in China don't call it "Maoism", they call it Mao Zendong Thought. They view this as simply a part of Marxism-Leninism. China today takes a 70-30 view on Mao. 70% of what he did was good, 30% not so good. In particular they are critical of the ultra-left tendencies of the chaotic Cultural Revolution era toward the end of Mao's life.
Is there a book recommendation you can give me where I can learn more about this?
You'll have to be more specific. Which part? China under Mao? The Cultural Revolution? The phenomenon of "Maoism"? Socialism with Chinese Characteristics? Modern China's view on the Mao period? These are big topics, i don't know a single book that covers them all.
Some book that explains how Maoism emerged in the West and became the presence that it is today.
https://en.prolewiki.org/wiki/Library:The_CIA%27s_Shining_Path:_Political_Warfare
https://en.prolewiki.org/wiki/Essay:Problems_with_Maoism
This might be a good start: https://archive.org/details/critiqueszymanski/mode/1up
Unfortunately it's fairly outdated. When it was written the Soviet Union was still around and China had not yet opened up, and there are a lot of lessons that Marxists over the past four decades have had to draw from what happened to the CPSU, the dissolution of the USSR, and China's successful rise. But this nonetheless explains basically the origins and problems of ultra-left Marxism in the post Chinese revolution era.
It's not focused on Maoism specifically though. For that you'll have to ask someone else for recommendations, i don't have anything right at this moment. I will look into it.
No that's just Marxism-Leninism